


How Far We Come and Will Go

by Malakia



Series: Naruto Drabbles and Short Stories [30]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Bell Test, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, Team 7 - Freeform, Teamwork, secret santa gift, they grow up so fast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22033024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malakia/pseuds/Malakia
Summary: The first time for the winter season after the insanity of the Fourth Shinobi War, Team 7 decides to relive some old times.
Series: Naruto Drabbles and Short Stories [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1124142
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	How Far We Come and Will Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mutemelody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mutemelody/gifts).



> Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Ronan! I hope you enjoy the fic!

Kakashi gazed at his three students, four since he counted Sai even if he didn’t really teach him. “This is almost exactly the opposite of what I meant.”

“What do you mean Sensei?” Naruto asked with a tilt of his head. “Didn’t you want to relive ‘old times?’”

“I think he means he wanted to get a drink at the bar and talk about our old training,” Sakura spoke before Kakashi could as she stretched. “Or at least drink in his living room and talk about the past.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out with a disgruntled face. “Where is the fun in that?”

“Apparently a lot,” Sai noted. “I have seen a lot of old shinobi go to bars to get drunk and just talk about past missions.”

“There’s not even ramen involved!” Naruto bemoaned. “Unlike here when we finish this!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall of the Hatake dojo. “Not everything has to involve ramen, Dobe.”

“Oi! Quit with the name, Teme!”

Kakashi half expected them to bicker but only a corner of Sasuke’s mouth tilted up. 

“Alright, alright,” Sakura clapped her hands together, “that’s enough you two.” She smirked when she looked at Kakashi. “And besides, this isn’t just about reliving old memories,” she waved a hand to Sai, “Sai has never done the bell test either.”

“I really still like my idea better...,” Kakashi bemoaned. 

“Senpai, don’t be like that,” Yamato called from his seat against another wall. “How can he be a member of Team 7 without doing the bell test?”

“Doesn’t that mean you should help me?” The copy ninja gave one of his infamous smiles- one that could only be seen in the eyes- as he looked at his friend. “Since you were sensei too?”

“Only temporary,” the man chuckled back. “And besides, it wouldn’t be the same unless it was with the original sensei.”

“By that logic, this test should be administered by my former sensei, Minato,” Kakashi muttered as he looked back at the four kids- well teens now.

Naruto had a broad grin with arms crossed behind his head. Sakura had her hands on her hips with an exasperated expression between her teammates. Sasuke had moved closet but still stood off, aloof. Yet his body leaned toward them rather than away and he wore the barest of smiles. A little more off the side, Sai stood with a sketchpad and looked to be drawing the trio. 

It was a far cry from the children that had started once before. Even Sai, who Kakashi learned his past from Yamato. They have grown comfortable in their own skin (far more than ever hoped for when he was their age) and the bonds they had formed between the four of them were strong and growing healthier each day. 

“So what are the rules, Sensei?” Naruto asked as they all faced him. 

Kakashi shook himself from his nostalgic ponderings. He lazily looked around the large room. The Hatake dojo was different than most as it was a dojo where nature jutsus could be practiced so the ground beneath their feet was solid earth with water at four corners. The more dangerous jutsus were discouraged from being practiced though, as to not destroy the old building. This gave Kakashi an idea. 

He looked at his former students. “We could always try and do this at our old training ground.”

“Oh come on!” Naruto groaned. “There isn’t enough time to ask for our training ground at the last minute! And it is also covered in snow!” 

“That could be a sign to not do this,” Kakashi countered. “Also, a shinobi should be able to adapt to any weather condition.”

“Sensei!” Sakura snapped, hands on her hips and a look that reminded him too much of Tsunade. “Stop trying to back out of this!”

Kakashi sighed and looked at Yamato again for help. His kohai just chuckled and shook his head, the traitor. 

“Fine,” Kakashi sighed again. He rolled his shoulders and neck before he looked at the group critically. 

Naruto smirked. “So what are the rules, Sensei?”

A corner of Kakashi’s mouth quirked up. “Well... since we are doing the bell test like you were genin... then you must use  _ only  _ the jutsus that you knew back then.” 

Two jaws dropped and Sasuke blinked in surprise. Only Sai, who Kakashi figured had more jutsus around their young ages than the three of them combined, didn’t seem to be fazed by this. 

“Oh, come on!” Naruto cried. 

“We are reliving old times,” Kakashi pointed out. “Why should you all be allowed to use sage modes, ungodly strength, or dojutsus that you didn’t have?” 

“....Including just my basic Sharingan,” Sasuke inquired.

Kakashi paused in thought. Then he said with a nod, “I think I can allow you to use that.” Kakashi gave another infamous smile. “Besides, having one Sharingan now is like having two back then, since using it as a genin would have been a lot to control for you.” 

Sasuke just eyed him, clearly deciding on if he should agree or not. 

Yet before that decision could be made, Sai voiced, “He has a point.” 

Naruto and Sakura made noises of protest but Sai just smiled. “It would be ‘reliving old times,’” he pointed out. “Even I will only use the jutsus I knew back then.” 

The trio seemed to think about it then. “I guess it’s fine then...,” Naruto mumbled. “Though I really wanted to use new jutsus on Sensei.”

“And most probably kill me,” Kakashi muttered as an aside. 

“Hm? You say something Sensei?” Naruto asked, turning his head.

“Nothing!” Kakashi shifted to put his hands in his pockets, making the two bells on his hip jingle. “So with that decided, shall we start?” 

And just like that, the mood changed back to the building excitement in the air. All the teens smirked, save Sai who smiled cheerily. Sakura punched a fist into her hand while Naruto and Sasuke shifted their feet wider and knees bent. Sai put away his sketchbook and then got himself ready by getting his large scroll out. 

“All set?” Yamato asked from his seat. When all the group nodded, he finished, “Alright, begin!” 

Sakura and Naruto moved forward at the same time and came at him. Sakura had a raised fist while the blond had a familiar hand sign. 

Sakura took the lead and tried to swing a punch at Kakashi’s face. The older man dodged by stepping aside just as there was a popping sound and smoke. 

The smoke covered his vision, but his instinct told him to move, and he flipped backward as something whizzed over his head. When he stood back up, the smoke cleared enough to see Sakura putting down her leg. 

Instantly, Kakashi had three Naruto’s own him, and it became a test of taijutsu as a flurry of punches came his way. He bobbed and weaved, and even managed to get a few good smacks in of his own. 

“Come on, Sensei!” Naruto called as he threw punches. “This all you got?”

“This is just a warm-up, kiddo,” Kakashi countered as he kicked one of the clones away that tried for one of the bells. 

All the while, he kept an eye on the surrounding room. 

Taking Naruto distraction, Sakura moved around and Kakashi figured she was trying to go to attack his blindside. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sai watched the proceedings, looking ready to jump in at any moment. 

Kakashi felt something behind him and ducked low. He rolled between the legs of the Naruto’s just as Sakura nearly accidentally punched one of them. 

“Hey! Watch it!”

The kunoichi rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t actually going to hit you, you big baby.” 

Naruto muttered something but Kakashi had no time to pay attention as he felt something coming from above him and to his back.

He didn’t even bother to look as he dodged to the side just as ink net fell where he was. He rolled and stood to see Sasuke had just stopped short of the net from ensnaring him, arms raised to grapple Kakashi. The only thing that probably saved him from getting caught was the fact that his Sharingan, which was spinning in his one eye. 

“Ohhhhhhh!” Naruto admired. “I didn’t think you could use your ink jutsu when you were a kid, Sai!”

Sai nodded a little with his usual smile. “I wasn’t very good with animals or people,” he explained. “But I could draw objects at least.” 

Naruto laughed. “Awesome!” 

All four teens faced Kakashi, clear intent in their eyes. The silver-haired man felt like prey and he began to sweat under the collar. 

“Better up your game, Sensei!” As Naruto hollered that, Sasuke moved forward for a close-range attack. 

Sakura and Sai jumped up to follow. The pink-haired woman threw some kunai while Sai drew something in his scroll and a round object was thrown from it. 

Kakashi jumped up and turned in the air so his feet could land on the ceiling. He looked down to see the round object explode into a cloud of smoke. Sasuke dove inside along with Sakura’s kunai. When he came out onto the other side, he threw one of the kunai at the older man. 

Kakashi easily jumped to another part of the ceiling to avoid it.

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi with a frown on his face. “Do you plan on running away the whole time?”

“Maa,” Kakashi tilted his head to the side. “I could always just stick your whole body into the ground and leave nothing but your head visible.” 

Sasuke’s face darkened a little while Naruto busted out laughing. 

“Oh man!” the blond cackled. “I forgot about that!” 

“Focus, Naruto,” Sakura snipped. She smirked. “Besides, we could just let Kakashi- sensei tie you to a poll.” 

The blond teen let out a strangled noise. 

“Maa, Maa, Sakura,” Kakashi chastised. “Don’t pick on the boys. After all, we can’t all get trapped in a genjutsu.” 

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at their female teammate with wide eyes. The pink-haired girl developed a shade of red at their looks. 

“You got trapped in a genjutsu?” Naruto asked. “The girl who is practically  _ resistant  _ to it?” 

“Look, I was young!” Sakura snapped. 

As the three of them stared each other down, Sai looked between them. “You were all really bad at being shinobi, weren’t you?” he mused. 

“We all start out somewhere,” Yamato interjected before the other three teens could turn their attention to the fourth. He waved a hand towards Kakashi. “But I think as Sakura said, you need to focus.”

“Now why did you have to do that, kohai?” Kakashi bemoaned. “I thought I could just easily sneak out while they were distracted.” 

The other man just shook his head as the teens turned their attention back to the silver-haired man. They all had hard eyes and the man sighed deeply.

“Well,” he rolled his shoulders. “Looks like I have to get serious.” 

He made some hand signs and there was the crackle of lightning that surrounded his hands. His team hunkered down, ready for anything. 

Kakashi jumped down and went for the biggest threat first. 

Sai jumped back to dodge but Kakashi didn’t miss a beat as he landed and immediately went for another punch. 

He made Sai go on the defensive as the teen dodged his swings. Sai tried to put in some punches and kicks of his own but Kakashi sensed that there wasn’t much effort into it. 

The older man could also feel the other’s eyes on him waiting for a moment to jump in. Yet Kakashi kept Sai moving and their movements unpredictable to make it difficult. 

One punch almost got the teen in the face, but only ended up swiping the boy’s cheek. Sai hissed and suddenly Kakashi could see the power he put behind his next kick forced Kakashi to step back before he could get hit. 

Immediately, Naruto and his clones were on him. The four of them made an intricate dance of bobbing and weaving each other. Sometimes one of the Naruto’s would try for the bells but Kakashi would always be able to dodge them. 

At one point, Kakashi delivered a solid hit to one Naruto and it popped in a puff of smoke. One of the remaining Naruto’s hissed and touched the spot where Kakashi had just hit the vanquished one. 

Kakashi smirked. He used Shundou to get behind that Naruto and crouched low. He dropped the electric technique but still brought his hands together, pointer fingers extended out to gather his chakra in the points of his fingertips. 

“One Thousand Years of Death!” He shoved his fingers forward and just as his fingers touched Naruto’s butt, he released the chakra into a powerful burst. 

Only there was a pop and the Naruto disappeared. Kakashi jerked back a little, caught off guard, when the real Naruto laughed and came at him with a fist raised. “Gotcha!” Naruto swung. 

Kakashi shifted his stance, barely able to dodge the punch as it whizzed past his head. He stuck a leg out and swiped Naruto’s legs out from under him. He was going to deliver a punch to the fallen teen when out of the corner of his eye he saw something red and orange. 

He moved just as a fireball went by. He cursed loudly and rushed off to stop it but, thankfully, Yamato moved faster and opened one of the shoji doors. The fireball flew outside into the snowbank to die out harmlessly. 

Kakashi sighed deeply in relief. He turned his head towards Sasuke, whose hands were still posed in the final hand sign for the Fireball Jutsu. “Could you try and not burn down my family’s dojo?” he asked in exasperation.

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow and smirked. 

“New rule!” Yamato called as he leaned against the open door and hand over his heart. “Any dangerous jutsus will be aimed toward the  _ outside.”  _

There was a chorus of confirmations.

As Yamato opened the rest of the doors, everyone in the center of the room readied themselves again. 

Sai and Sakura helped Naruto stand up, while Sasuke stood in front of them. 

“You guys are certainly doing better,” Kakashi complimented. “But you need to do better if you think you can get these bells.”

The teens looked between the four of them. They then smiled and nodded to one another. When they looked back at Kakashi, Naruto voiced, “Alright Sensei. Here we come.”

Kakashi wasn’t sure what that meant and began to sweat again. 

Sai laid out his scroll on the ground and drew on it. Ten orbs appeared and Sai tossed them up. Sasuke came up to follow by detonating them all by throwing shuriken at each one. The area where became covered with smoke, hiding all the teen’s forms. 

Kakashi raised his arms to ready himself. He heard the familiar sound of rushing wind but there was no coming attack. That set him further on edge and was still expecting a wind attack. That was until two large earth walls shot up from the ground on either side of him. It created a rough-looking corridor that extended from the smoke and towards the open door.

He didn’t have time to react to this new development when there was another fireball that suddenly came out of the smoke and right towards him. The earth walls on either side of him gave enough room to dodge to the side but just as he did there was a yell, “Here I come!” 

Naruto flew out of the smoke as if thrown and came in fast. Kakashi had only one choice but to jump up in order to dodge.

When he jumped, he realized his mistake a second later, as he and Naruto were now on a direct course with each other. He had misjudged the blond’s trajectory. 

All he could do was turn sideways in mid-air and the Naruto-sized weapon zoomed past him. 

When Kakashi landed on top of the earth wall, he looked out the door just as Naruto, who had turned in mid-air and so he went feet first into the snow outside and disappeared. 

Kakashi turned back as the other three came out of the smoke with smirks on their faces. He sent a pointed look at Sakura, the only one who could have possibly been able to throw Naruto like that. 

“I thought I said no ungodly strength?” he asked. 

She raised her head proudly. “Technically, it was implied to not use my enhanced strength on  _ you,”  _ she pointed out. “Never said anything about my teammates.” 

Kakashi moved his head side to side in thought before he finally nodded in agreement. 

There was a loud bark of laughter and everyone turned to see Naruto climbing out of the snowdrift. “Guys! We did it!” He raised his hands, and there were two distinct bells in his hands. 

Kakashi’s head snapped down to his hip and, sure enough, the bells were gone. “Well I’ll be damned,” he murmured to himself as there were the sounds of victory. 

Kakashi jumped down as the three other teens walked outside onto the outside walkway. A door not far away slid open and Yamato walked out. 

The other sensei looked at the sight of all four teens smiling and Naruto still standing in the snow with the bells in his hand. His eyes widened as he smiled brightly. “Congratulations, you four!” he laughed while he walked to join everyone. “That’s incredible!” 

Naruto laughed while Sakura responded for them and said, “Thank you, Yamato-sensei.” 

“It was impressive,” Kakashi also congratulated while he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “But what did you  _ do?”  _

The four teens looked at one another with secretive smiles. “A super-secret teamwork technique!” Naruto laughed. “We’ve been practicing it for a while now!” 

“The only difference is that when Naruto is thrown,” Sakura added, “is that he uses his Rasengan on the target.” 

Kakashi shivered and was thankful that Naruto (or someone in the group) decided not to do that to him. 

The silver-haired man looked at all the teens in the group and felt warmth bloom in his chest. “You’ve all certainly come a long way from the last time we all did this,” he praised. He looked at Sai. “And congrats to you on officially joining Team 7 by passing the test.”

Sai smiled. “Thank you.”

“So, now that we are finished with old times,” Kakashi turned to head back to the main house. “Who is ready for dinner?”

“In a minute!” Naruto called. Then there was the familiar pop of shadow clones. When Kakashi looked back there were now four other Naruto’s with the original. All of them were crouched and gathering snow in their hands. 

“Yukitama no Jutsu!” Naruto yelled and all the clones threw snowballs at everyone. 

There was an indignant cry of ‘Naruto!’ from Sakura as everyone was pelleted. Yamato and Kakashi, both who were at the end of the group line, managed to dodge most while the other three got hit. The blond just laughed as his clones continued to throw the snow and even bent down to help them. 

Sakura was the first one to jump off the platform and joined the fray. The fight then turned only to her until Sasuke slowly went to join his two teammates. Sai was the only one left as he silently watched what the three of them were doing. 

Kakashi and Yamato came to join him on either side. “Is this... a snowball fight?” Sai quietly questioned with a curious look. 

“It is.” Kakashi gave him a bit of a shove forward. Sai jumped a little and looked at him with wide eyes. Kakashi smiled as he nodded to the others. “You should join them.” 

Sai shoulders hunched a little as he looked back between him and Yamato to the others. “I....”

“Sai!” The three of them looked to see Naruto waving. 

“Come on!” Naruto encouraged with a bright smile. “Come join us!” He was then hit with a snowball and focused his attention back on the fight. 

Sai’s eyes grew bright even if there was a bit of apprehension there. Then, ever so slowly, he put his scroll down and with measured steps walked toward them. That lasted for only the first few steps into the snow until he was running to join the group. 

The sound of laughter filled the air as the teens waged their war. Silently, the two sensei’s watched it all with soft smiles. 

“It’s nice that they can still act like this,” Yamato quietly spoke, “in spite of all that happened.”

Kakashi merely nodded in agreement. He couldn’t find his voice at the moment as he watched his team play and laugh like children. They still had their innocence but were far more grown-up than he would ever be. It warmed his entire body at being able to see such a wonderful event. 

And still, the best was yet to come, as he was given the gift to continue to see them grow into adults. What more would they accomplish? What more could they give?

He honestly couldn’t wait to see. 


End file.
